Contractual Obligations
by Part of the Queue
Summary: Five ways that Dean says No, and the one time he said Yes. Zachariah. Michael's Sword. Archangel. The Future. Michael. Yes.


**Title **Contractual Obligations  
**Rating **PG-13/T  
**Characters** Dean, Sam, Castiel, assorted angels  
This was written for the prompt "Five ways that Dean said No and the one time he said yes" at the comment_fic comm at livejournal.  
Reviews would be awesome. Let me know what you think.  
**Spoilers **for the end of season 4 and the majority of s5.

**Summary **Zachariah. Michael's Sword. Archangel. The Future. Michael. Yes.  
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1: Zachariah – They're all standing in Chuck's kitchen, blood is dripping down his fingers and he's not really sure about anything apart from Zach is a Dick, and Cas is dead, and they failed. Failed to stop the freaking apocalypse. He's running on autopilot, barely registering the angel's words. He's been played, used as a pawn all along, and when Zach tells him that it's going to continue, slamming a hand onto that bloody symbol feels like a pretty clear 'No'.

2: Michael's Sword - Sam's got no lungs, and there is a crippling pain filling his abdomen. And he's not going to say yes to being a meat suit, no matter what they do (they can't actually kill him, because they need him, and no matter what they do, it can't be worse than Hell). And so he says no, blood running down his lips. And he says it again, over and over, until Cas arrives, and Zachariah is the one in denial.

3: Archangel – The plan worked, and Raphael is standing in a ring of holy fire. Dean is almost ranting, a well-rationed argument tinted with anger and bitterness, this is something that has been building up since Zachariah announced his 'destiny'. Castiel is standing by his side for the whole conversation (rather than showing up to save his ass at the last moment) and his brother isn't. Cas who has abandoned Heaven and is one of very few people that Dean trusts. In the end, "What he said" covers everything Dean needs to say.

(3.1: The next time they meet an Archangel it is Gabriel, with his own special brand of mind fuckery. Sam is at is his side as well as Cas, and Dean feels he may have the higher moral ground here as he hasn't messed with anybody's head recently, or beat the shit out of his little brother, or run away from home because he couldn't deal with family arguments (although he was tempted once or twice). Also, he isn't currently trapped in a ring of holy fire. This time "No" is accurately stated as he turns his back and walks away.)

4: The Future: Sam is gone, even though his future self won't tell him how, and Cas is a crazy, drugged up hippie, and the world has gone to hell. And yet, part of him keeps hoping that it's all a trick (even though it feels so real). And even seeing what Sam has become, which shakes him to the core, makes him all the more determined to stop it, all of it, because now that he's seen it, he'll know the signs when they appear and he'll be able to stop it, and so he says no to Zachariah yet again (there is so much wrong with the Famine situation, but a part of him is relieved, because there is a reason for Cas' hunger, and it's not a step down that road).

5: Michael: The son of a bitch is in his Dad. That pisses him off. But the way he turned Anna to dust in moments scares him more (especially as Cas, not exactly Michael's favourite at the moment, is lying unconscious in a crappy motel a few scant miles away). But the bullshit about no free will does not promote sympathy, and Dean is getting really annoyed with people comparing Dean and his brother, with Michael and his. So he tells the angel that he's got to believe that there is a choice, and pretends not to be completely freaked out when he saves Sam's life, and scrubs his parent's memories. And if he goes a little heavy on the whiskey that night no one cares, because his brother is sleeping off a resurrection hangover, and the other third of Team Free Will is too unconscious to notice.

1: Yes – It happens in a scrap yard in South Dakota. In the middle of the night, with his brother locked in the only safe room he knows. He screams into the sky for hours, until the fluttering of wings announces the arrival of an angel he already knows. "I'll do this so my brother doesn't have to". He makes a pledge, a promise. "I give myself over wholly, to serve God…"

He's already said yes. He did it before he realised the importance of the word, but it's a vague memory that doesn't really register. It's something from _before_, from before Lucifer, from before the Michael Sword, from before he realised the game the angels were playing. He made a promise to serve God's will and to serve the Angels.

All he's doing is disputing the fine print.


End file.
